Five Spanish regions have announced the re-introduction of rules making the use of protective face masks mandatory in healthcare facilities after a rise in flu and coronavirus cases during the holiday season.
In the region of Valencia, the rate of respiratory infections increased to 1,501 cases per 100,000 inhabitants between December 26 and January 1, the second highest number of reported cases in the country for that week, after Castilla-La Mancha.
Health workers and facilities in Valencia are asking people with symptoms, as well as staff, families and friends in waiting rooms to wear masks.
This rule is likely to be extended to other areas where people with compromised health congregate.
Neighboring Catalonia also mandated the use of masks in health centers, while Aragon in the north issued the same directive, adding that workers and citizens in general were recommended to use masks in public places, especially indoors.
Murcia on the southeastern coast has also introduced the obligation to wear a mask, while northwestern Galicia has issued a recommendation to that effect.
Influenza, Covid-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are circulating widely in communities, with influenza being the most prevalent and infants and the elderly most likely to be hospitalized, according to the latest epidemiological report from Spain’s Carlos III University Health Care Institute.
In the last week of December, 953 cases per 100,000 inhabitants were reported in primary care centers across the country with acute respiratory illness, compared with 922 seven days earlier, while hospitalization rates showed a sharper rise than last year.
The Spanish Association of General Practitioners has called for the mandatory wearing of masks in health centers across the country. The Ministry of Health has convened a meeting of regional health authorities and, according to local media, will propose the introduction of mandatory rules across the country next week.
